Born in Khartoum, Toubia is the cofounder and President of RAINBO. She’s a surgeon and women’s health rights activist, specializing in research into female genital mutilation (FGM). In 1981, she became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and the first woman surgeon in Sudan. Recently, Toubia worked for four years as an Associate for Women’s Reproductive Health at the Population Council in New York and is currently an Associate Professor at Columbia University School of Public Health. She is also a member of several scientific and advisory committees of the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and UNDP, and Vice-Chair of the advisory committee of the Women’s Rights Watch Project of Human Rights Watch where she previously served on the Board of Directors.